Abd-al-Malik

Abd-al-Malik 

Born 646/647; died 705. Caliph of the Umayyad dynasty from 685.

Abd-al-Malik suppressed the uprisings of his adversaries Ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca (683–92) and his followers in Iraq (685–91), Al-Ashdaq in Damascus (689), and Ibn al-Ash’ath in Iraq (700–02), as well as the uprising of the Kharijites in Iraq (692–97). He restored the political unity of the caliphate, which had fallen apart after the death of Caliph Yazid in 683. As a result of his financial and tax reforms, the Arabs considerably strengthened their rule in the countries they had conquered. Abd-al-Malik introduced the Arabic language in the chancelleries in place of Greek and Middle Persian and coinage with Arabic inscriptions in place of Byzantine and Sassanian-type coinage.